The Bundesbank's regional office in Hamburg, Mecklenburg-West Pomerania and Schleswig-Holstein has had a new president since 1 November. Uwe Nebgen took over from Arno Bäcker, who had been at the helm of the most northern of the Bundesbank's nine regional offices since the beginning of 2017.

At a ceremony in Hamburg, which was attended by Hamburg's Senator for Finance Andreas Dressel (SPD) and Schleswig-Holstein's Minister of the Interior Sabine Sütterlin-Waack (CDU), Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel honoured the achievements of the economics graduate from Rhineland-Palatinate. He noted that during his 33 years of service, Bäcker had skilfully and diplomatically represented the Bundesbank's stability policy at home and abroad.

„I would like to thank you most sincerely for this and for your great, tireless commitment – also on behalf of the entire Executive Board, which has now been complete again for a few days,“ said Nagel, bidding farewell to the 63-year-old on his retirement. To his successor, Bäcker is handing over a well-ordered house.

For Nebgen, born in 1960, taking on the new position means returning to familiar territory. After training as a wholesale and foreign trade merchant, he completed a degree in economics at the University of Hamburg. His Bundesbank career began 34 years ago at the-then Landeszentralbank in Hamburg. At the reception in the head office, Bundesbank President Nagel also revealed to the roughly 150 attending representatives of banks, companies and authorities that Nebgen, whose family comes from Schleswig-Holstein, supports Bundesliga club FC St. Pauli.

Over the past five years, Nebgen has headed the Bundesbank's representative office in Tokyo, which was founded in 1987, and where he previously worked between 2006 and 2010. From 2010, he also worked in the Financial Stability division at the Bundesbank in Frankfurt, where Nebgen had previously worked in the Central Economics and International Affairs departments. He also gained international experience at the German Permanent Representation to the EU in Brussels for three years until 2003.

At the reception, Nebgen spoke of a major professional step: from the management of a small work unit in Japan to the position of President of a regional office – an authority with over 400 employees and responsible for three federal states with a total of 6.5 million inhabitants, as well as around 75 credit institutions with around 800 branches. He would take up office with respect, but also with confidence.

In all areas of his work for the Bundesbank, political and practical relevance, and thus proximity to the realities of life, have always been in demand. Thus he feels that his experience is broadly based, and therefore feels well positioned for the challenges that the new office entails.